I also don't really do small talk well. I can't do conversation for its own sake. I don't initiate it, and I respond to it at face value. Somebody says it's a nice day, I say "Yes, it is." They ask how I am, I say "Fine." My wife has told me more than once I was rude to somebody who tried to engage me in conversation, and I really didn't have the foggiest idea that's what he was doing. Fortunately, my wife is a warm, extroverted person with well developed social skills and a grasp of etiquette. I hide behind her as much as possible.

I personally can't stand small talk, I think its my NE antisocial vibe. Get in, get out of a conversation with a stranger as fast as possible. I was in culture shock when I took a cruise out of TX. You say "how you doing" to many and they give you their week's events. Where I'm at you get "good".

It kind of goes back to my prior posts in the "what grinds your gears" thread about people who state the obvious to make small talk. "Hot weather isn't it..." "Yep"

Oh yes, the people who keep going on and on with the small talk, when I just want to pick up the mail or buy a loaf of bread, or if I obviously have work to do. Your friendly gesture is duly noted, now f**k off.

Why do people need to talk for the sake of talking? I like a good conversation as much as the next guy, maybe more, but it has to be about something, and it has to have some value to the people involved, however small. I hate giving a report on the family and business to everybody I interact with, not because they have a genuine interest, but because asking is the sociable thing for them to do and telling them is the polite response.

Ugh...small talk. Since I happen to have two X chromosones, I'm expected to engage in small talk with other members of my gender about clothes, makeup, boys, and celebrities. I don't care all that much about 3 of those, and my relationship with my boyfriend is not some stranger's business.

Oh yes, the people who keep going on and on with the small talk, when I just want to pick up the mail or buy a loaf of bread, or if I obviously have work to do. Your friendly gesture is duly noted, now f**k off.

Why do people need to talk for the sake of talking? I like a good conversation as much as the next guy, maybe more, but it has to be about something, and it has to have some value to the people involved, however small. I hate giving a report on the family and business to everybody I interact with, not because they have a genuine interest, but because asking is the sociable thing for them to do and telling them is the polite response.

I figure it's something that made a lot more sense 100 years ago in more rural areas, and social patterns haven't really changed to reflect that much. Back then, practically anybody you came across was probably a neighbor, a friend of a friend, or someone you'd run into again. So, knowing some basic information about what was going on with their life was not only helpful, it could be useful for the good of all.

I will say I can appreciate small talk from people who are regulars at places I'm a regular - it's basically a way of working up to a friendship with a stranger. But yeah, when you go to a mall in a city of 50,000 people and someone engages me in small talk about nothing much, it's not something I particularly care for. But, I've been described as an "esoteric" conversationalist, so my small talk conversations often end up in weird places.

I don't know, I think the conversation thing with me is it has to be meaningful or what I at least see as meaningful. I can talk the ears off someone about gardening, movies or certain TV shows. However, I just don't like those uncomfortable interludes I find myself in where I feel no need for conversation with a someone. For me its usually in an elevator or a bathroom. The bathroom part is odd to me. I'm not looking to make friends there.

Anyhow, next quirk for me which will contradict everything I just said. I talk to myself...a lot. It gets to the point where I pretend I'm talking to someone. I guess I find myself better company than a lot of people.

I used to work out regularly at a gym when I was in the city, and the small talk that always baffled me was naked men standing around making chitchat in the locker room. I change my clothes and get out as quickly as possible, but there are always guys who are in no hurry to get dressed just chatting away about their weekend plans or whatever, as their dicks swing lazily in the breeze. What I found particularly awkward was when some naked stranger tried to strike up a conversation with me while I was just trying to get my pants on and leave.

I don't know if it's just modesty, my sense of what's appropriate. Could be homophobia, I suppose. Maybe it's just that I never played team sports as a kid. Guys who change and shower together from an early age might be totally at ease. That's fine for them, but it makes me very uncomfortable. Small talk is bad enough, but doing it while trying not to look at the other guy- or God forbid, glance down - is hell.

I say "Yi Carumba!" a lot when I'm --- kinda doing that a lot reading the last few posts here. I'll grant you though I stole that from the Simpsons where it's "Aye Carumba" yet I say "Yi Carumba".

Before I go to bed at night or leave the house, I have a tendency to check and recheck things - make sure the toaster and kettle's unplugged, make sure the burners and oven are off, check to make sure lights are on/off and doors are locked and I tend to check things more than once each time.

I HAVE to wash any new item of clothing first before I wear it. Anything brand new ... socks, undies, blouses, sweaters, tee shirts, jeans or pants, pj's etc. It must have something to do with clothing that is worn closest to the skin. I don't have this compulsion with coats or hats, but I do have to wash a new pair of gloves before I'll wear them.

I also remember as a kid I used to wear my hair in ponytails and braids, and I used to twirl and chew on a section of my hair. Used to be a bad nail biter too. Thank God those behaviors stopped as I grew older.

Easy to see why we all get along so well. I'm curious to know how many people on this board are not obsessive-compulsive introverts.

They would probably be outcasted Andy. Side note, I'm beginning to wonder if we are blood related. We seem to have the same quirks.

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I HAVE to wash any new item of clothing first before I wear it. Anything brand new ... socks, undies, blouses, sweaters, tee shirts, jeans or pants, pj's etc. It must have something to do with clothing that is worn closest to the skin. I don't have this compulsion with coats or hats, but I do have to wash a new pair of gloves before I'll wear them.